LSU offensive tackle Will Campbell, center, celebrates with fans after being chosen by the New England Patriots with the fourth overall pick of the NFL draft on Thursday in Green Bay, Wis. Matt Ludtke/Associated Press

Who do you draft for the team that needs everything?

Well, almost everything. The New England Patriots look all set at quarterback with Drake Maye, and in Christian Gonzalez, they have one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL. Everywhere else, we see holes, question marks and kiddie pool depth.

Shortly after 8:30 p.m. Thursday, we learned the next brick in the rebuild is left tackle Will Campbell, a 6-foot-6, 319-pound bodyguard from LSU.

It’s been a generation since we’ve seen the Patriots undergo an honest-to-goodness, top-to-bottom, A-to-Z rebuild. This is a team coming off back-to-back four-win seasons, and that’s something it had not done since the NFL-AFL merger in 1970. Even the putrid teams of the late ’80s and ’90s mixed in a few five- or six-win seasons just to give fans a little misplaced hope.

Of course they won the one game they needed to lose to lock up the No. 1 pick, the season finale against a Buffalo Bills team in rest-for-the-playoffs mode. It cost them the chance to deal with teams desperate for a quarterback who would have gladly turned over a busload of picks for Cam Ward, who went No. 1 to the Tennessee Titans.

The 2024 Patriots were bad like we haven’t seen in a while. Getting their first-round pick correct is the next step in getting better. By choosing the best offensive lineman in the draft, the Patriots filled their most basic need.

Getting Maye more time to throw, and getting runners holes through which to run, is a paramount need. New England quarterbacks were sacked 52 times last season. Only four teams allowed more. The Patriots threw 18 touchdown passes. Only the Giants threw fewer. The Patriots were last in the NFL in passing yards.

The Patriots weren’t much better running the ball. Their 11 rushing touchdowns were among the worst in the league. Everything starts with the offensive line, so it makes sense that’s where New England started the 2025 draft.

LSU offensive lineman Will Campbell, right, blocks Arkansas defenseman lineman Landon Jackson during a game last October. Campbell was drafted by the Patriots with the fourth overall pick on Thursday. Michael Woods/Associated Press

A lot has been made about Campbell’s arm length, specifically his lack of it. Are his arms 33 inches long or almost 33 inches long? You watch film of him clearing superhighway wide holes as a three-year starter in the SEC, see him protecting the blind side of quarterback Jayden Daniels as he plays his way to the Heisman Trophy, and you wonder why quibble over eighths of an inch.

Campbell has done the job at a high level. He’s what the Patriots have needed on the offensive line since Nate Solder took the free agency bus to the Giants in 2018.

Previously, the Patriots made a top-five selection in the draft nine times, but when they called Maye’s name last year, it was their first top-five pick in 30 years. That pick in 1994, No. 4 overall, was linebacker Willie McGinest. It worked out. One year earlier, the Patriots selected quarterback Drew Bledsoe No. 1 overall. That worked out, too, in that it helped reset the team as one that could compete.

Other top-five picks had varying success. Wide receiver Irving Fryar, the top pick in 1984, had a long career, although self-inflicted harm hurt Fryar throughout much of his time in New England. Defensive end Kenneth Sims, No. 1 overall in 1982, had a strong season in 1985, helping the Patriots win their first conference title. But injuries kept him from ever living up to the potential that comes with being the top pick.

Cornerback Mike Haynes, No. 5 in 1976, is a Hall of Famer. Guard John Hannah, No. 4 in 1973, is a Hall of Famer and regarded by many as the best guard in NFL history. Quarterback Jim Plunkett, the No. 1 pick in 1971, had a late career renaissance with the Raiders, winning a pair of Super Bowls. In New England, he was beset by injuries and no supporting cast.

In 1970, the Patriots used the No. 4 pick on defensive tackle Phil Olsen, who I had never heard of until I just looked him up. It turns out Olsen suffered a knee injury practicing for a college all-star game and never played a down for New England. He did go on to play for the Rams, Broncos and Bills.

Friday and Saturday, the Patriots can get to work on other needs — a wide receiver, a pass rusher they can develop, more offensive line help, because even if he’s an All-Pro, Campbell can’t block an entire defense himself. In a lucky fluke of scheduling, the Patriots will play just five games against opponents who made the playoffs last season, including two against division rival Buffalo. The opportunity for fast improvement is there.

Before Thursday, it had been 31 years since the Patriots drafted in the top five of the first round two years in a row. They don’t want to go for a third year.